This invention is related to metronome, which ticks beats, whose tempo moves along music, and has display, with which user can predict beat timing more precisely than conventional one.
Conventional metronomes tick the beat precisely and evenly in tempo, which is set preliminarily and kept until next operation. There was no metronome with moving tempo.
Method of setting tempo by tapping two beats was disclosed. Japanese patent application publication JP H7-271360 describes tempo setting from interval time between two beats on electronic percussion instrument hit by user. With this user can specify a tempo freely and directly. But this tempo specifies only fixed tempo after that, it does not specify moving tempo.
Another Japanese patent application publication JP H7-271360 for automatic playing instrument shows method of display or making sound according to the data of tempo and meter, which are attached preliminarily to music notes information. This tempo is set for each music work, but moving tempo is not specified.
Historically the first means to indicate the beat timing was mechanical pendulum with reciprocating motion sounding at each ends. Recently various electronic metronomes are developed and used. As visual presentation, for example in Japanese patent application publication JP H8-201541 image display device is used, and in Japanese patent application publication JP 2000-88977 array of light emitting elements is sequentially emitted. These electronic metronomes are aimed to imitate conventional mechanical metronomes, moving direction is transversal and reaching both ends shows beat timing. Some of them display movement along circular arc. Velocity of movement is flat or as shown in above patent application JP 2000-88977 velocity near end is slow downed. All these aimed to imitate mechanical metronome faithfully.